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57 Responses to “Florida Skunk Ape Caught on Game Camera?”

1. hoodoorocket responds: May 24th, 2013 at 11:03 am

   @ photoexpert:

   Thanks for taking my comment as intended (I think?). Your response is a perfect example of the high art form I am referencing. Even when you are directly addressing my comments, I do not possess the tools necessary to interpret what you are really thinking behind the words.

   I suspect there is something going on at a high level in your posts that the majority of us miss. Is it a grand jest, is it true genius, is it a super-ego? All I understand is that I don’t understand, and I am delighted that it has not been resolved.

   My reference to Andy Kaufman was not intended as an insult. He constantly challenged, fundamentally and subversively, the accepted concepts of his field in a way that others did not understand. My suspicions are you are doing the same. I like to think that anyway.

2. chewbaccalacca responds: May 24th, 2013 at 11:12 am

   p.s. I found this story from January; check out the video clip, which focuses on the ape exhibit at the zoo there–look specifically at the background at the 30 second mark. It’s not identical to what we see in the pics above (hard to really tell one way or another), but the coloring of the tree bark and background vegetation is suggestive:

3. hoodoorocket responds: May 24th, 2013 at 12:30 pm

   @ Chewbaccalacca:

   The Jacksonville Zoo has had 4 lowland gorillas since 1998. I can’t tell you how many are there now (can’t tell you when the gorilla photos in the above video were taken either).

   The Gorilla’s names are/were “Lash”, “Rumplestiltskin”, “Quito”, and “Ben”. “Quito” died a few years ago.

   The Gorillular gentleman pictured on this site certainly looks like he might be the subject in the above post:

   The photo is entitled “Western Lowland Gorilla – Gorilla gorilla gorilla” which has a nice alliteration and rhythm. I do not know which gorilla from the zoo is picutred.

   PS: Please note the similarity of the background.

4. chadgatlin responds: May 24th, 2013 at 2:40 pm

   @chewbaccalacca I could only find a PBS television station with the call letters WEDU in Florida, no radio stations.

   Also, the youtube user’s channel has a few other questionable videos, including one about a ghost in a castle which has some historical facts wrong. If this video was obtained from another source I would like to know where it came from.

   I think this most probably is a a couple of pictures found somewhere by this YouTube user and then put into a video with added voice and backstory. I don’t have any proof of this, other than the user’s other videos which indicate that they are just trying to generate hits for ad revenue (e.g. the “Shark Attacks Caught on Tape” video is just a still photo for 7 seconds. Got 2 million hits though.)

5. PhotoExpert responds: May 24th, 2013 at 3:16 pm

   People, people of Cryptomundo, I am delighted to see you have all put on your thinking caps on this one. We have the normal number of sceptics responding and the normal number of believers responding. What I fail to see, but was hoping to see were more people in the camp of objectivity. I think I may have been the only one there from that camp and maybe hoodoorocket and few others posting were in that camp. The good news is, I can see by my comments, that I got at least a couple of you thinking objectively and being noncommital.

   Is it a gorilla being pawned off as the Skunk Ape as a hoax? Who cares? Is it really a gorilla that was tearing up that garden as witnessed and reported? Who cares? Well, I do! But I care in a way that it does not matter. I am in search of the facts! To get to the facts, one must disregard their belief system and look at the data at hand. If you try to make the data fit your predetermined beliefs and mind set, you can fit a square peg in a round hole. But that my friends is not science! That is your religion doing that!

   Here’s the thing, from the information given, as I eluded too, it could be a giant hoax. But also from the information, if proven to be credible data, this Skunk Ape is an escaped gorilla. The point is, it really does not matter because the legend of the Skunk Ape will live on no matter what the outcome of this scenario is. It has been around long before this gorilla was born. And true to all other stories about the Skunk Ape, this one may never be resolved. That was my point. But the bigger point of my posts was to get you all thinking and doing your own detective work. That is why I set up my first post by showing you what goes into it by researching Google and Tin Eye. I then explained the low pixel count for you and why the photo was clear. I wanted all of you to think!

   I wanted the sceptics to at least investigate something before claiming hoax and that is why I pre-empted them with the long/lat coordinates. I wanted the believers to investigate instead of being like Matt Moneymaker and claiming everything is a BF or Skunk Ape. You all need to be more objective and join my camp, the camp of objectivity, where true scientific process takes place. But alas, I might not ever get either side to leave their religions, even if that is for a moment. Some of you are so far entrenched in your camps, that you will continue being sceptics or believers because you enjoy the fight. You are warriors for your religions of belief and scepticism and must wage war with anyone that disagrees with your side. Even when a truce or solution is presented in the form of objective analysis, you would rather go on fighting each other and increase the war status instead of capitulating, investigating, learning, and solving mysteries of life through the scientific process. Well, don’t let my rational thought process stop you–have at it. Continue the status quo!

   Hoodoorocket–Nope, I took it the way you meant it. I definitely consider you a friend. And even if you disagree with me, I would still consider you my friend. There is a poster or two on here that I literally took apart and dismantled them and their posts until they cried uncle. That was enough for me. Of the two posters, one of them took offense and tried personal attacks, which did not end well for him. LOL Basically, he looked like a moron after I narrowed down the conversation to prove his point or be shown to be a fool. I did it quantitatively by teliing him to post my real name if he knew it. If he could complete that task, he would be a genius and I would bow to him. If he could not, then he would be proven a moron by me and look foolish in front of all of the Crytomundo community. Instead of walking away and saving face, his religion would not allow him to do it, so he guessed my name publicly. He was not even close! I have not seen him post since. I guess he humiliated himself. I did not even do the humiliation part, he did, that was the irony.

   The other poster, well, even though he disagreed,he never got personal. You could see him trying to remain objective. And after several attempts to match my wit, he capitulated the victory to me. I respect that! And even though we disagreed, he was a man about losing that argument. I consider him my friend at Cryptomundo, even though we disagree. Why? Because I do not care about me or another person being wrong or right. It is about the excercise of exchanging thoughts and ideas and that is always right in my book! That poster by the way, is Goodfoot! I like his commentary and posting. I consider him intelligent although we do disagree from time to time. On the other hand, there are posters here who I consider my brother, like DWA. I think he can read my thoughts. It is like we are sharing the same brain! LOL

   Anyway, hoodoorocket, I consider you my friend. I enjoyed your postings, and took everything you said as a complement instead of an insult. Why? Because your intentions were good and you meant them to be positive. I got it! I am smart like that! LOL

   By the way, since you are an Andy Kaufman fan, I thought I might mention this because I do have a broad range of interests outside of cryptozoology. Yesterday, there was an article on Andy Kaufman at MSN. Did you happen to read it? It basically was talking about Andy Kaufman actually being alive and seen, just like an Elvis sighting. The article delved into his comic abilities and how even his own brother did not know if he was being comical or if he was for real when doing various skits. His brother told MSN that he asked Andy not to tell him because he did not want to lie to people when they asked him. He was that good at what he did, that even his own brother did not know if he was being real or acting out. Apparently, Andy Kaufman wanted to fake his own death. He even had meetings with a NY man that had successfully done that and was reported in the NY Times Obituary. Andy told friends that if he did that, he would return in 2004. Hence, the sightings of Andy Kaufman, alive, many years after his reported death. But for me, the old man in question did not resemble Andy Kaufman. But I thought I would relay that current story to you since it just came up yesterday and you are an Andy Kaufman fan. But I am also relating it to you for another purpose. And that purpose is that even Andy’s closest friends could not figure him out. Just like you, you are not sure where I am coming from. You stated, “I suspect there is something going on at a high level in your posts that the majority of us miss. Is it a grand jest, is it true genius, is it a super-ego? All I understand is that I don’t understand, and I am delighted that it has not been resolved.”

   So let’s keep it that way. Just like Andy, enjoy the show whether real or imaginary. I have a feeling like Andy, it will never be resolved. And for you, the jury will always be out, with no verdict coming in the near future. LOL

   You also stated, “My reference to Andy Kaufman was not intended as an insult. He constantly challenged, fundamentally and subversively, the accepted concepts of his field in a way that others did not understand. My suspicions are you are doing the same. I like to think that anyway.”

   My response to that is that I can neither confirm or deny this allegation. Wink, wink!

   See you around Cryptomundo, hoodoorocket!

6. Surveyor responds: May 26th, 2013 at 5:10 pm

   Here’s a very similar photo from a couple of years ago that was pretty well unanimously determined to be a hoax. The similarities between the subjects of these 2 subjects are uncanny:

7. hoodoorocket responds: August 23rd, 2013 at 9:33 am

   Craig, I know this is a dead post and the consensus was almost unanimous that it is a hoax, but I wanted to contribute this last bit.
   First, my apologies, as I was having trouble with my email account and did not have access to the reply when this might have been relevant.

   In response to my inquiry, Craig Miller, Curator of Mammals for the Jacksonville Zoo wrote the following:

   “… it does appear to be the western lowland gorilla, Quito, at the Jacksonville Zoo. FYI, Quito died of heart disease back in January. Thanks, Craig

   Craig Miller

   Curator of Mammals”

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